Is The Office Of Congressional Ethics On The GOP Chopping Block?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Is The Office Of Congressional Ethics On The GOP Chopping Block?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/office-congressional-ethics-republican-chopping-block_n_783811.html

Amanda Terkel | [e-mail] | HuffPost Reporting



WASHINGTON -- With "transparency" and "accountability" the new buzz words amongst the incoming Republican lawmakers in Congress, one fixture that may ironically be on the chopping block is the Office of Congressional Ethics, an independent watchdog set up to handle ethics complaints.

"Even as they outline institutional reforms, GOP leaders are gearing up to kill the fledgling Office of Congressional Ethics, which helps police ethics complaints," reported the National Journal on Monday. "They are handpicking top aides, many of them old K Street hands, to staff key committees and Capitol Hill offices. Some tea party activists grouse that lobbyists and insiders are trying to 'co-opt' the GOP freshmen."

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who is expected to become the next Speaker of the House -- told The Huffington Post that no decision has been made at this time regarding the office, which appears to leave open the possibility that it may be defunded.

Asked today about whether the office would be eliminated, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who is heading the GOP's transition efforts, told ABC's Top Line that it wasn't an issue he was focusing on.

"Our focus on the transition is looking at other things that are much more important. And that is how the House operates, how to open it up," he replied. "We're not focused in on the ethics side of things at all. We're not working on that issue at all."

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Only after it nails Rangel and some others...